Between

3) Aud

He met Aud – whom he had known a long time but never spoken to – nearly every morning on the way to the works. They would cycle over the green Medes together in the cool freshness of the morning. She was a little older than he and seemed gay and careless.

One evening they spent on the river – drifting up a little stream near Bell Weir and wandering along quiet backwaters. He liked her. He found that she was not so gay as she seemed but sensitive and sad. Once he asked her what her greatest dream was? She said, “To marry, and be so happy that people would say it couldn’t last!” That was typical of her. She was also a fatalist and believed she was not destined to get married, ever.

(1981 He met Audrey again years later, by accident. They shared a railway compartment from Egham to Staines – three minutes. She hugged him: She was so happy. She was to be married within a few days and still remembered and believed in her greatest dream. He still believes that her dream came true. She had the will to make it so. An old man remembers. And, 47 years later is glad that he once knew her.)